Building in a rural or suburban context is still appropriate where located in a planned and strategically zoned area. However it is no longer acceptable to build out of town estates of soulless cul-de-sacs and semi detached houses. The Quality Initiative and the associated planning policy statements set out aspirations and demands of any suburban housing. Designs must respond to context, local character, topography, landscape features and draw on the best local traditions of form, materials and detailing. Neighbourhood facilities are essential to any development and provision must be made for quality amenity space, walking and cycling encouraged and personal safety promoted. Brokerstown Village on the outskirts of Lisburn, designed for leading developer The Carvill Group, will become an exemplar in this new thinking in urban design. The vision is to create a new village development, breaking the mould of conventional cul-del-sac based housing development over the past 30 years.
Taking inspiration from desirable traditional village settlements, we have designed a village where the car does not take precedence. The layout, the range of housing opportunities, mix of uses and public transport provision make journeys by foot more pleasant and practicable. The careful design of streets, squares and parks creates a distinct identity for the scheme that responds to its natural setting and existing landscape features. The mix of unit types will also allow for a real community to move into the scheme and make it a true contemporary settlement, incorporating the valued attributes of the traditional village and the desirable elements of modern housing. Brokerstown is illustrated in the projects that follow, together with a selection of other rural and suburban schemes the practice has completed or is presently working on, ranging from one off houses for private clients to multiple unit developments for major house builders.